Monday, June 10, 2013

Haydee's 20month Update

Since I hadn't written in a while I decided I should write an update on my little fatty..

Haydee is now 20 months, I really cant believe there's only 4 more months till shes 2! You really don't realize that time is passing you by until its a couple of months later..As a mom Ive realized that you need to acknowledge all the little things in life and to enjoy as much as you can.

Shes conquered so many milestones..

Sitting, crawling, walking, running, and now jumping. Or at least trying to jump, she doesn't really get off the ground much.

Getting her first tooth to now having a whole mouth full of them. 16 to be exact. Even though Ive noticed her hands in her mouth a lot lately so I think her 2nd pair of molars might be starting to pop out.

From cooing to babbling to full on words. She is a parrot! Repeating everything you say so I already need to becareful around her. Not to brag or anything (even though every parent does, its just our nature) I think she talks a lot more then other kids her age, she'll just make me look bad in front of people when I want to show her off because shes shy, but don't let her fool you, shes a smart cookie. She loves to sing! Some of her favorites are twinkle twinkle, the happy birthday song, the alphabet song, and some of her Disney show songs. She can count to 5. She'll say 1 & 2 normal, whisper 3 & 4, and shout 5! My little genius baby, not sure who she gets it from lol..

Shes in the process of potty training, which will be in another post..

My favorite thing would have to be her little personality. She is just tooo funny. I cant stay mad at her past a minute. The things she says, and howw she says it with the facial expressions she uses is just too much. She uses her eyes and face so much when she communicates shes like a little old person. If she doesn't become the first female president she'll for sure become an actor.

As I'm typing this I turn around to catch a glimpse of her sleeping next to me and theres just something about her sleeping face that is just soo beautiful to me, I cant explain it. Maybe its that shes always running around all day that I hardly get to really just stare at her and take everything in. It takes me back to when she was just a newborn and all we would do was just lay in bed and stare at each other...if there was only a way to pause time..


Until next time,
Your favorite Mommy! =]

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Im Back!




My New Year's resolution of blogging didn't even last a month..I have an excuse though. Ive been taking school this semester seriously, so Ive actually been studying instead of googling answers. Although the semester started a month ago so I don't know how much of an excuse that really is lol..

Anyways speeding up.. Ill post some pics on a couple things you've missed out on.

A trip to Disney for my birthday with my lovely Disney partners Ashley and little Ferny




Another trip to Disney with the fam on my dads side. Haydee got her first hair cut there, it was awesome! They gave her a bunch of Mickey stickers, a little pouch to keep her hair that they cut, Mickey ears that say "My 1st Haircut", and a certification! ... I also got into making fabric appliques for a few and ended up making all of our Mickey shirts that we wore.


These are some more fabric appliques I made..I wanted to make more and possibly sell them but I just suck at keeping up with a project..I never did anymore..



We went to the Miami Zoo and had a blast looking at all the animals. We even rode a camel and fed a rhino, Haydee wasn't scared at all!



For Easter we went to a egg hunt in Coral Gables and Haydee "found" her first egg!


Yeup..another trip to Disney. This was a suppper last minute trip with my Disney partners. We got to Orlando at night and went straight to the park because Magic Kingdom was open late. Best time to go! No people, no lines. We got out new annual pass cards and I picked Minnie Mouse. The next day we went to Epcot to see the Flower & Garden Festival. So amazing how they can make all of that...I'm not sure if everyone knows but Epcot has some games inside that are really cool called "Wheres the Fire" and "The Great Piggy Bank Adventure", If you have never played them you need to. They're supper fun!


Our first beach day of 2013



and finally our first time going to Gymboree Play & Music. We went with a friend of mine from high school that also had a little girl. It was pretty neat, but it will probably be the last time I go. They're prices are a bit much for my taste.

Well until next time,
Your favorite Mommy! =]

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The love and Battle I have with nursing

This post is a bit long with no cutie pics of my fatty, so beware..

     My plan for today was to start putting Haydee on a more scheduled daily routine and to try out sleep training..

What is sleep training, you ask?
Its a way of helping your baby learn to sleep and stay asleep through the night. Many babies have trouble going to sleep, or going back to sleep when they've been wakened.
(got that from here, it has some more info on sleep training if interested)

     I have always loved breastfeeding Haydee since the first day she latched on. Me and her became quite pros at it. We have nursed anywhere and anyway you can think of. In private, in public, standing, laying down, walking around, in the bath, while in the car, on rides etc..
     I think it was when she became too much of a pro that the kicking, being upside down, twisting and turning while nursing began..now that wasn't fun..at least not for me.

     After months of pretty much breastfeeding 24/7 on command, like a free breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack all you can eat buffet, time caught up to me..I was exhausted! Doing whatever I was doing during the day and basically waking up every hour at night to switch her from my left boob to the right, and so on, was killing me. Co-sleeping with her made it a lot easier since I don't actually need to get up from my bed and walk to her crib, but I still had to wake up from whatever lovely dream I was having, and I wasn't happy...
     Falling asleep wasn't a breeze either. It already takes me a while to fall asleep..adding a baby whose nursing on my not-so-comfortable sleeping side, while tossing and turning, and squeezing (really hard) the nipple that's not being used, makes it a whole lot harder!

     There would be nights I would be totally fine with it, sometimes not even noticing shes nursing. Squeezing and cuddling with her while she nurse herself to sleep. Looking into her eyes as she rolls them back from how good that first sip of "chechi" tastes..
     Other times I'd catch myself half asleep basically pushing her off of me. I hated that! Nursing is supposed to be a lovely bonding experience between us and it was starting to make me be annoyed of her..at least at nights, when I was reallyy tired.

     Soo..that's when I decided I wanted to try out sleep training, since the only way Haydee knew how to sleep was by nursing. I researched a ton of different ways to do this, including reading the book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley and wrote down some notes about it (which I definitely recommend, even though I haven't tried it and I don't know if it actually works but it seems legit).

     Even though it was bothering me I always had an excuse not to start the sleep training. It was either because of her teething, being sick, going on vacation etc..Last week I told myself that on Monday (today), I would dedicate at least 2 months of her being on her daily routine so I can start. Well..it didn't happen, with not even a real excuse, I woke up and just told myself "ehh, maybe ill start tomm."

     So I was thinking today on my drive home...Whyy was I continuing to give myself excuses for something that I wantedd to do? .... Well, because I really didn't want to do it..

I have always said I would keep nursing Haydee until she is 2 1/2 years old (maybe a little older - but only in mornings and before bed).

     I noticed today that she is slowly beginning to stop nursing during the day, and I guess I'm afraid if she also stops in the middle of the night she soon might not want to nurse at all..and as much as night nursing annoys me, I love every bit of it.

     If anything is wrong with her; being sick, hurt, sleepy etc. she would nurse. Me, and only me, would be able to cure her. I was and have been her supper hero/mom for the 15 months shes been alive.

Why would I want to stop that?..

     I would end my post with just that..a cute ending of me wanting to stay a supper hero, but that's not true. I want sleep! I've been in a battle with myself for the last few months wondering if I should stop nursing or not, and if its still a healthy choice for both me and her..but I still don't know the right answer..

A little background:
I exclusively breastfed Haydee till she was 6 months. After that I started giving her some baby and table foods, but mostly still breastfeeding. When her year birthday came, I started to slowly give her more food and cut down on the milk..she wouldn't have it. She has never really been a food eater since shes always been a boobie drinker.. lol

Well now I need to figure out what I really want to do..
A. suck it up
        1. until shes 2 1/2 and re meet this situation when the time comes.
        2. until she self weans, which could take foreverrr.
B. sleep train her so she stops nursing through the night and we can both sleep happily.

     Letter B obviously sounds pretty good...Besides the actual sleep training process, which can go both ways and take forever (and will be another blog post all in itself)..I need to come to terms with my little angel seeing me as her supper hero no matter if I'm nursing her or not..

Until next time,
Your favorite Mommy! =]
P.S. this post is more of my "battle" with nursing, then loving it. I will be blogging about the love I have for nursing including all the funny (and not so funny) things Haydee does before, during, and after nursing..




Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Veggies = Yummy!

For a very long time now Ive been trying to get my little monster to eat good food..or any food for that matter. She is supper picky and doesn't like to try things. Even if its something she has eaten before, her first bite is always smaller then a tiny mouse nibble. she'll turn her head and say "no no no no" or just throw all the food off the high chair... Oohh, but if you tell her "cookie" she'll look at you with her eyes wide open and a big smile and definitely have 10 of them. She is a big fan of sweets!

I was searching through the very popular site, Pinterest, and came to find some great toddler recipes. One of them being fruit and veggie muffins that I recently tried making. They were a great success! So thanks to Natalie for posting it! =]

I pretty much followed her directions except, instead of using applesauce I made a homemade apple/pear sauce with some cinnamon.

Use 1 apple and 1 pear peeled and cut into chunks. Put them in a pot with some cinnamon on medium heat until the juices start flowing. lower it a bit and let it sit in there for about 20min so it can get soft. (stirring occasionally just in case, so it wont get stuck).
After they are nice and soft I blended it with my hand mixer. I had more then what the recipe called for so I just stuck some in a tuber ware for later.. yum!

Now the good part starts...Veggies!

You need 2 1/2 cups of any fruit/veggie puree to put in the muffins. I just used the same ones she did to try it out and Ill start experimenting for the next batch.

Veggies: broccoli, zucchini, carrot
fruits: banana, apple, homemade apple/pear sauce

Put everything together and blend away! Add a little bit of apple juice to help with the blending process.

looks pretty yucky..
*tip: dont let it get too runny, because then it will need longer time to bake..

In another bowl combine your "normal" ingredients: Sugar, butter, and eggs. 
Add your choice of yogurt, the fruit/veggie puree and then the rest of the dry ingredients. 

Starting to look better.. and possible taste better, but I did not try the batter. Natalie, the original poster was apparently daring enough to try it at this point. Kudos to her!

Scoop into some muffin trays and they are ready for the oven in 375 degree F.


 They cooked perfectly in less then 20min. I let them cool for a bit and then let Haydee try a little piece. She had a weird thinking face at first but then asked for "mas"! I was soo excited.

After making my mom try it and then her making me try it (I did one of Haydee's mouse nibbles) I can say they actually tasted pretty good! ... a bit like banana bread.

I took one to my aunts house the next day and was able to trick my 11 year old cousin into eating one thinking it was a banana bread muffin..so they work for bigger kids too! 

Ingredients

Dry:
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. sugar

Wet:
4 tbsp. butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. apple juice
1/4 c. applesauce (homemade apple/pear sauce. 1 apple & 1 pear)
2 1/2 c. fruit/veggie puree
1/4 c. Greek yogurt 

Until next time,
Your favorite Mommy! =]

Monday, January 7, 2013

Organizing My Life

This was done the weekend of NYE so I was able to start the new year organized, but I never posted about it..

I'm veryy surprised its stayed like this for so long though..

I took out haydee's crib from my room. I just came to terms that she'll probably sleep with me for the rest of her life. Haha. The crib was attracting clutter; my clothes, her clothes, toys, diapers, wipes, books etc. So me and my mom took it apart and put it away.


Viola! Soo clean! (for now..) I try and pick up her toys every night. I sing the "clean up" song and she sings the "inkup" song.. She's too cute!

Then I went to the drawers.. Haydee has the two bottom drawers so she's always opening them and taking everything out. Plus, whenever I'm looking for something for her to wear I look through and move everything around and then just pile everything back in making it all messy.


Soo.. I found this good idea! Folding the shirts next to each other, instead of on top of each other. That way I can see each and every thing. I don't let her open the drawers anymore, but when she's being sneaky and I'm not looking she only gets her Minnie shirts since she's able to see which one's they are. She just lovess Minnie!


Lastly, is my messy corner by the window. Everyone usually has a "junk drawer" well I have a "junk corner", literally. I have haydees changing station (which I've never used) with a couple storage bins filled with baby stuff. Baby books, my mail (prob from like 5 months ago) and old baby clothes that I've been meaning to give away piled on top of the changing station, and lots more junk on the floor next to it.

This corner still has some major improving to do, but it's a start..

I'm hoping to add some paint and decorations in our room soon too. Its a bit boring..


Until next time,
Your favorite Mommy =]

Thursday, January 3, 2013

2013 here we come

Happy New Years everyone!

Although my NYE wasn't filled with so much excitement, its the little things that count. I spent the night at home with my little one watching the infamous ball drop in the downstairs TV room. My fatty fell asleep (while drinking her chechi of course) one minute before midnight! When the time came we gave her some kisses and she had woken up. We went to the front of the house and we were able to see some fireworks. We actually saw some of those hot air sky lanterns, which I'm definitely going to be doing next year.
 

This past year has had its ups and downs of course.. but the most important and greatest part of the year has been that I've been able to witness my very beautiful and healthy daughter grow up and learn all sorts of new things!

I know 2013 will be even better! I have a few things I want to change and make my "new years resolutions". Hopefully I can stick to them..

New Years Resolutions
1. Get organized! - In every aspect possible; I'm a VERY lazy person and I'm always making excuses no to do or finish anything. So, this is a must for the rest to be a success.
2. Figure out my career - I've recently decided I don't want to be a teacher anymore, so I need to quickly figure something else out and get a move on.
3. Do more fun activities with Haydee - she is getting older, and having her coped up in a room all day isn't fun anymore.
4. Start up an Etsy shop - I opened one up a while ago with my aunt selling bracelets for girls, but never really did anything with it. I got some research done so hopefully I can get it going again and add some more stuff.
5. Keep practicing on my photography - I've always loved to take photos but I get nervous telling people how and where to pose.
6. Work out - I just had to put this one up.. if I get over my laziness I'm sure I can squeeze in at least a few minutes a day to get some exercise in.

..and of course to blog more often.

How was your year? and what New Years resolutions are you working on for this year?

Until next time,
Your favorite Mommy! =]